(Chinese green) tea for two

This week I was visiting my colleagues in another city, and also teaching my successor there - they had organized a farewell party to me yesterday, and oh, the multitude of gifts! First of all, something which I had actually asked for from a Beijing (or should one say Pekinese??) colleague who I knew was visiting Finland - some really, really good Chinese green tea. This "Tieguanyin" brand is a premium variety of Chinese oolong tea. Freely translated supposedly something like "Iron Goddess of Compassion". A total of 500g of this goodie should last quite a while, and make this girl a whole lot more compassionate.



Then, as the Actual Farewell Gift, they gave me Finnish design at it's best - an Aalto vase, and a miniature Marimekko bowl. Both in this Spring's new color, purple. The color actually looks quite pink, depending on the light, so it's right up the alley of my favorite colorway..

Funny how this photograph of the Aalto vase actually looks like a person's ear.... or is it just me?







And here, in a portrait with the Marimekko bowl, is Basil the The Great Mouse Detective, getting stronger by the day..



And hey, what do we have here?! Could it be...... oh yes, she's actually also knitting something!

I know, I know ... this knitting blog hasn't actually been much about knitting recently, sorry about that - but I hope you forgive me for keeping occupied with other, more down-to-earth things recently.
But I feel a small startitis creeping up my spine... and should really also finish this 'Auburn Camp Shirt' from IK Spring '09, knit in Sirdar 'Baby Bamboo'... So there's hope still!



Exactly 24 working days to go. Then it's bye bye steady income, at least for a while.. I'm excited and also a bit horrified. But much more exited :)

Deliveries and plans

A lovely package came with mail the other day - thanks sisters! :)

As you can see, the colorway is 'Troglodyytti' - well, if my camera would show the correct colors, then maybe you could really see.... anyway, it's a lovely brown shade, hand-dyed by Mokkasukka. When this grows up, it may want to be a pair of gloves..

One wouldn't think that keywork 'knitting' would produce that much results in YouTube (other than knitting instructins, of course), but here's something you might enjoy..

In the theme of tea... I must of course now join the ranks of knitters who have designed and made their own tea pot cozy .. more to come on that subject soon!

Thé

I've been reading, or more like gulping, a book on tea ("Tee teematka",by Helena Petäistö, in Finnish). It's such a nice book - plenty of delicious descriptions on the best Afternoon Teas found in various European locations (mostly in grand hotels of the capitals, but of course also in actual tea houses and tea rooms), a lot of history (sometimes very bloody measures have been taken in order to guarantee tea to the salons and chippendale tables of the high and mighty), and personal accounts on different tea varieties. The lady who wrote this book is a long-time foreign correspondent of Finnish television, she's located in Paris, and is an expert on all things French.

Being known as a not-so-avid coffee drinker (meaning no coffee for me, like, ever...), I've lately taken up different coffees, and grown to somehow even like them - I guess more important is the mood and athmosphere of the café or coffee house than the actual drink itself. Although I must admit that the boost of caffeine for someone like me who's not used to it is quite something, and at times can provide good extra energy for a short period of time.

Due to this background of not drinking coffee, I've been always offered tea at parties etc., and mostly it has tasted bad, bitter and bland. The Lipton Yellow Label, which gets a special mention in the book for the most awful thing that has ever happened to tea, is the worst of them all. Rumour has it that it's made from the stuff they sweep off the floor after finishing the production of the better teas. Eww!

Anyways, this book has been really inspirational - she's comparing teas with wines, that it's possible to find as subtle and multiple differences between different teas (black, green, white, yellow..) as a wine-buff can find among red wines, for example.

If you take time to prepare the tea properly (quality and temperature of water is the key, and after that make sure that the brewing time is correct), it's really an experience worlds apart from the 'place-the-yellow-labelled-bag-into-boiling-hot-water-and-let-it-simmer-there-until-taste-is-unbearably-bitter' method.

Just imagine a fresh pot of delicious tea, some scones with thick cream and strawberry jam, cucumber sandwhiches, cakes and pastry.... Makes you want to jump on a plane and hurry off to London/The Hague/Dublin/Frankfurt/Vienna immediately (just to mention some of the best places mentioned in the book to have your afternoon tea in the old fashioned way).

In the meantime, you can also feast you eyes on the web pages of the top Finnish tea place. The calm effect of this alone will convert anybody from the rush of caffeine into a Slow Movement supporter and tea drinker.